“Whether autoimmune or rheumatic disease may be precipitated after vaccination is controversially discussed among experts. Here we describe 4 cases of new onset or relapsing antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies associated vasculitis occurring in timely association with influenza vaccination.”
“The emergence of autoimmunity after vaccination has been described in many case reports and series. Everyday there is more evidence that this relationship is more than casual. In humans, adjuvants can induce non-specific constitutional, musculoskeletal or neurological clinical manifestations and in certain cases can lead to the appearance or acceleration of an autoimmune disease in a subject with genetic susceptibility. The fact that vaccines and adjuvants can trigger a pathogenic autoimmune response is corroborated by animal models. The use of animal models has enabled the study of the effects of application of adjuvants in a homogeneous population with certain genetic backgrounds. In some cases, adjuvants may trigger generalized autoimmune response, resulting in multiple auto-antibodies, but sometimes they can reproduce human autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjögren syndrome, autoimmune thyroiditis and antiphospholipid syndrome and may provide insights about the potential adverse effects of adjuvants. ”
“Immunization may thus act as a trigger for rheumatoid arthritis.”
“Logistic regression modelling of DR, treatment, age, time postpartum, and arthropathy revealed that the odds of developing arthropathy was 1.9 times greater (95% CI, 1.07-3.44) after rubella vaccine than placebo.”
British Journal of Rheumatology
“We have recently observed a patient who developed Rhumatoid Arthritis three weeks after a second dose of tetanus toxoid. A 34 year old woman received two doses of tetanus toxoid in November and December 1986. A week after the second dose she developed severe pain with erythema and in duration measuring 10cm in diamater at the site of injection over the left deltoid muscle. This severe local reaction lasted 10 days. A few days after the erythema and induration started to fade the patient developed a symmetrical inflammatory polyarthritis involving proximal interphalangeal, metacarpophalangeal, wrist, elbow, shoulder, knee, and the metatarsophalangeal joints. The arthritis was severe with early morning stiffness lasting several hours. There was no past history of arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, iritis, back pain, psoriassis, or recent infection and no family history of inflammatory arthritis.”